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Has the NHS enabled you to successfully manage your weight?

I do not know about NHS weight loss regime as I have never been overweight but I do believe that any diet including low carb as we well know only succeeds with the will power to stick to it
 
My son is pretty chubby (technically obese probably) and the NHS sent me to the dietician who inferred that we were lying about his intake of McDonalds etc. She encouraged him to do more also.
On the other hand when I was a type 1 weighing 84 kg with bulimia(obviously not very good at it), I did get a referral to a psychologist to help me break the compulsion to mainline carbohydrates and even through episodes of stress and depression I am a stable weight.
The NHS is mainly stuck in the paradigm of changing people's obesity through behavioural measures. If the advice appears not to work and you believe in 'eat less, move more' then you are bound to conclude that your patient is greedy, lazy or depressed.
I don't know if things would have been better for me if I'd been guided towards the kind of nutritionally dense food that it is suggested helps brains function better. We all like to think that what we eat makes no difference to our mood and cognition given how it is human to want to feel in control of yourself. Part of my problem was self loathing at my inability to control my eating and my diabetes.
If I talk to anyone now about how to eat better I would say that in the carb centric and processed food world we live in, it is tough but that there are tactics we can adopt to help us change our relationship with food. The message to eat real food, not worry about fat and cut out as much processed carbs as possible should work for most people with suppport (see the work of Drs Unwin and MC Cormack and others) but is undermined by any focus on low fat (= hunger), obsession with the scales (not an accurate measure of health IMO) and the diet mentality (short term and calorie focused). If that fails to work then bariatric surgery is proven cost effective and life changing but is not an easy way out (popular culutre implies that the patient has failed morally if they require it and presumably gateway NHS doctors are influenced by this).
 
Pinkorchid said:
I do not know about NHS weight loss regime as I have never been overweight but I do believe that any diet including low carb as we well know only succeeds with the will power to stick to it
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You don't need willpower with LCHF as you can eat until you are satiated as long as you keep the carbs low enough.
 
Pinkorchid said:
I do not know about NHS weight loss regime as I have never been overweight but I do believe that any diet including low carb as we well know only succeeds with the will power to stick to it
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Will power won't be sufficient on any diet that leaves you hungry. Cravings, on the other hand, can be overcome sometimes in a surprisingly short time and they keep diminishing over time.
 
zand said:
Will you be allowed to low carb after the op?
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Within reason. Alot of blending and grinding to be done but I'm prepared. High fat doesn't help me lose weight, never has but normal fat hasn't stopped weight loss. For me. I won't be having cheese unless low fat. Nuts will have to be a treat. So will have to rethink a liver block food.
I will be having 2-3 ice cube size meals. I've egg cups ready too.
Water for few days then liquified meals (maybe milk shakes), then thicker, then lumpy and then whatever can be chewed and swolled.
All like weaning a new baby. New small stomach which needs to be not stretched.
 
Self loathing is very damaging. It can lead to all kinds of problems but recognising it's happening and why is the key to success.
When it's coming on you could remember this isn't the real truth. You are working hard, as much as your energy allows, to do the right thing for your body. Which is more complex than most's.
I'm sure now you recognise this negative thinking you can replace it with a positive accurate one.
 
Thank you. And having suffered for too much of my youth, I don't waste too much time on it now! It is helpful to think of something I got from a US podcast, Every Choice Is A Chance! Works for me anyway xx
 
The nhs dietician and endo organised for me to get my op weight goal.
So I'm 1lb away from it.
I've been given a 2wk's time appointment, then a letter proving weight loss.
All nhs support.

I just think if we weren't sure how to lose, how can we expect others too. They aren't mind readers nor so intelligent that they remember everyone's individual needs.
Ok agree their past history was pants but hopefully...... not now.
I was let down too but nothing stays the same. Including bad things. They run their course then.......

I knew one day I wouldnt be morbidly obese as I'd move earth and sea to make it happen. If something gets enough good attention then good will come out of it.
 

I would definitely concur with this from my own personal experience. I noticed a significant improvement in my mood, sleep pattern and quality of sleep, and energy levels when doing low carb. I completely agree with an holistic approach to improving wellbeing
 
I have been with wms for 13 months now. Was weight stable until April when I was started on trulicity. Lost weight slowly and steadily since then, because of appetite change.

I think the effects of appetite reduction may be wearing off now, but I am still happily less susceptible to binge episodes.

For me yes, the NHS has helped me lose weight but not via the eat well plate and low fat diet I was initially recommended.
 
IMO, and having been overweight for psychological reasons in my 20s, I think the label of emotional eating is just another, perhaps kinder way of blaming eating behaviours upon the individual. What used to be gluttony and sloth becomes binge or comfort eater..
If you derive pleasure from your favorite combo of fat, salt and suagr (as their maker intend you to) then you can seek more pleasure beyond satiety. If you are metabolically vulnerable (become fat and diabetic) too then you'll be labelled as a junk addict or some such. If not unlucky in the metabolic department (est.25% of the population) will just get called lucky!
 
Blimey, if I had followed NHS guidelines, I'm sure I would be bigger (heavier) and would not have managed to reduce my blood sugars enough to come off the meds! The best help and advice I have had has been from this site - I thank you all. My DN was impressed by how I managed to do it and encouraged me to continue but that is all!!
 

No!

The 'eat less / move more' advice helped me LOSE weight quickly but I found the calorie restriction to be unstainable beyond a few months, so my weight yo-yo'd for 25 years between 22st and 15st, so the NHS did not help me to MANAGE my weight.

Funnily, at first diagnosis in 1989 I followed the little advice available then (not then having Google) and lost 14 pounds in the month I waited to see a dietitian. She looked at my food logs and said that I had chosen a really healthy diet but that I should eat more fat. There was no follow up for years, during which time the low fat advice took hold, and when my GP started annual reviews his nurse told me to eat more carbohydrate.

When I switched to LCHF five years ago I was at about 16 stone in my weight loss/regain cycle and my doctors told me I did not need to lose weight. I think they had become so used to seeing patients become heavier over the years that they classed anything short of obesity as 'normal' . I ignored their advice, reversed my diabetes and lost 5st in weight making me feel ten years younger.

Now I go along to LCHF education sessions, run by courageous GPS in defiance of our local Clinical Commissioners, to be used as an example of how sustainable, safe and effective LCHF is.

So my original response must be modified to add ... but some NHS doctors and nurses ARE helping patients manage weight and the likes of Dr David Unwin are inspiring more to follow.
 
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